Ontario Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak pauses during his keynote speach at the party Annual General Meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario on Saturday February 11, 2012. The Progressive Conservatives plan to introduce legislation to impose an immediate two-year wage freeze on over one million public sector workers in Ontario. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Pawel Dwulit) | CP

Hudak says the economic uncertainty created by the weekend elections in France and Greece and Ontario's recent credit downgrade require immediate action from the provincial government.

He says a wage freeze for the broader public sector would save $2 billion for a province facing a $15 billion annual deficit.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says the Liberals' prefer to negotiate with the public sector workers and will only move to impose a wage freeze if talks fail.

McGuinty insists he's not looking for a fight with labour groups, which he says Hudak clearly wants.

Private members' bills rarely become law in Ontario, and it's unlikely the Tories could get any support from the NDP to pass wage freeze legislation against the wishes of the minority Liberals.

Hudak points to Canadian Federation of Independent Business study saying public sector workers get 27 per cent more in pay and benefits than their counterparts in the private sector doing the same work.

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7 Austerity Horror Shows From Around The World

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At the height of the 2008 financial meltdown, California became a poster child for living beyond one's means, as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a financial emergency over the state's $11.2 billion deficit. Though austerity measures have quelled the fears of credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's, which recently upgraded California's rating to "positive," cuts to public spending will be painful, with the axe set to fall everywhere from state parks to universities.
Photo: Protestors carry signs as they demonstrate against proposed cuts to Medical and Medicare outside San Francisco city hall on September 21, 2011 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

With a debt-to-GDP ratio of around 60 per cent, the UK's financial situation is much better than many of its international peers. But in the wake of record-breaking budget deficits and continued economic unrest, the country's centre-right government is pursuing the most far-reaching austerity program in generations. The proposed cuts, which are expected to total 126 billion ($197 billion) pounds by 2016-2017, include axing 600,000 public sector jobs.
Photo: A protester holds up a smoke bomb during a mass demonstration against government financial cuts in central London, on March 26, 2011. (CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

Amid growing unease among international lenders and an annual budget deficit estimated at between six and eight per cent of GDP, Spain's government last year set the stage for an 8.9-billion-euro ($11.5 billion) austerity package, the first in a wave of spending cuts and tax hikes expected to amount to 16.5 billion euros in 2012. But after allegedly dragging its heels in advance of a regional election, Spain is reportedly in danger of receiving a fine from the European Union for not doing more to reduce its deficit.
Photo: Thousands of police, teachers and hospital staff stage a mass protest march in Barcelona on January 2012 in growing anger at spending cuts hitting key services in Spain's Catalonia region. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

When bond yields began to drift perilously north -- a telltale sign of waning confidence among international lenders -- Italy set about reducing its debt-to-GDP ratio of 120 per cent. The 30-billion euro ($39 billion) austerity package approved in December under interim Prime Minister Mario Monti, who took over from Silvio Burlosconi at the height of the crisis, includes measures to reduce tax evasion, health care cuts and hiking the retirement age for state workers to 66.
Photo: A hand with a heart painted holds a cigarette as dozens of anti-capitalist 'Indignant' protestors demonstrated on January 14, 2012 in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. (TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

After the government's efforts to bail out six of the country's biggest banks sent the deficit soaring -- and prompted a 67.5 billion euro bailout -- Ireland embraced belt-tightening with gusto, reducing its annual budget deficit from 32 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 10 per cent. The latest austerity program announced in December includes tax hikes, a reduction in the child benefit and cuts to public sector wages and jobs.
Photo: A protester holds up two Irish flags in front of the General Post Office in Dublin on November 27, 2010 against savage cutbacks. (PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Tough austerity measures have sparked growing unrest in Portugal, where tax hikes and spending cuts have done little to wrench the country out of financial turmoil. Despite dodging bankruptcy in 2011 by accepting a 78 billion euro ($102 billion) bailout, Portugal remains mired in recession, as government readies to pursue even more significant belt-tightening this year.
Photo: A worker speaks in a megaphone in front of the Finance Ministry in protest against government austerity measures during a demonstration launched by Portugal's biggest trade union called Portuguese General Workers Confederation (CGTP) in Lisbon, on February 11, 2012. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

At the epicentre of the eurozone debt crisis, Greece, where the debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated at 160 per cent, has had little choice but to pursue an unrelenting and aggressive belt-tightening campaign. With talks underway to secure a second massive bailout -- and amid yet another wave of violent protests -- the country recently approved another 3.3 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in spending cuts, expected to come at the expense of government wages, jobs and pensions.
Photo: Protesters clash with riot police at Athens touristic Monastiraki area near the Acropolis on October 19, 2011. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)